G150 Nabs EASA Certification

Gulfstream’s first metamorphosis of an IAI aircraft received EASA certification last week. The G150, which is a wide-cabin sibling of IAI’s Astra and Gulfstream’s earlier G100 offering, first received FAA and Israeli certification in the fall of 2005. Gulfstream president Joseph Lombardo said, “The EASA certification is an extremely important accomplishment.” The year-and-a-half between U.S. and EASA certification was part of the plan, said a company spokesman. He said the manufacturer wanted to ensure it received the EASA ticket with no limitations or compulsory configuration changes, which it did. Since the jet entered service in 2005, 23 have been delivered. Gulfstream said that it has six G150 orders from European customers. The six-to-eight passenger Honeywell 731-equipped jet can fly Mach .75 for almost 3,000 nm.